


Causatum

by kerithwyn



Series: Trope Bingo [3]
Category: Fringe
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Community: trope_bingo, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 06:50:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerithwyn/pseuds/kerithwyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Walter Bishop conducted the Cortexiphan experiments, he inadvertently created a new species of human being.</p>
<p>Nick Lane is an omega. He's also a projective empath. And he's just gone into heat. "Bad Dreams" redux.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Causatum

**Author's Note:**

> Written for trope_bingo 2013: alpha/beta/omega. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I'm not overly fond of the A/B/O trope, but I tried to respect the essence while dodging the (to me) more off-putting aspects.

The dreams started slowly, creeping into Olivia's consciousness over the course of a week. Maybe they were only to be expected, given her empty bed and the stresses of her job. Also given the stresses of her job, waking to the feel of an orgasm still thrumming through her body was far preferable to the way she usually jolted awake from a dead sleep.

But when her dreams began to coincide with reports from New York of spontaneous public sex involving multiple participants, Olivia knew there had to be more to them. In her dreams, it'd felt like she was in the body of someone else who was having sex. Someone male.

She'd found that aspect peculiar and the experience strangely palpable, but not intrinsically upsetting. The participants in the New York cases couldn't claim the same; few of them had known each other before becoming involved in sudden... _orgies,_ there was no other word for it. 

The bizarre nature of the case naturally called for Fringe Division involvement, but Olivia kept her suspected link to the events private for the time being. As much as she'd come to trust Agent Broyles, she wasn't about to reveal an entirely too-intimate mystery to her boss without proof that it was actually relevant to the case.

The initial investigation led Olivia, Peter, and Walter through a number of embarrassing interviews (more so for the people affected, granted) before a common description came to light: one man who'd been present at all the scenes, blond with a scar on his face. Astrid's expertise with video footage analysis finally gave them a picture and a name.

Olivia stared hard at the grainy photos, half-listening while Peter interrogated Walter.

"We've already ruled out drugs or poisons. What are we dealing with? Pheromones? Mind control?"

"Something like pheromones, yes." Even paying only partial attention, Olivia could hear Walter's hesitancy. "Perhaps some kind of mutation, or exposure to an unknown substance--"

"Walter," Olivia interrupted, still staring at the photo. Walter's evasions, the experience with Jones and his light box, Nina's confirmation of the drug trials: all the facts had been leading her here. "What can you tell me about Cortexiphan?"

With Walter's stuttered explanation, the truth fell into place with perfect, hideous clarity. Both she and Nick Lane had been children in Jacksonville during the Cortexiphan trials. It was becoming undeniably apparent that the trials changed them, gave them _abilities._

Peter's temper was starting to fray. "For the sake of argument, let's say that Nick's emotions are contagious, like a virus. Maybe he's even doing this unwittingly, but it still doesn't explain how Olivia's seeing him in her dreams."

Caught up in his exposition, Walter forgot to obfuscate. "Often when we experimented on children, we would put the boys and girls in pairs. Like the buddy system in summer camp. This pairing kept them from becoming frightened or feeling isolated. Sometimes an intense bond could form, a bond that could be greatly amplified by a drug like Cortexiphan."

"Breeding pairs," Peter growled, accusatory. "Building your own master race."

"That wasn't the initial intent," Walter said, his voice finally breaking. "There were...unforeseen biological changes as well. Quite difficult to detect unless you know what you're looking for. Agent Dunham, tell me, you often find your menstrual cycle to be irregular, almost nonexistent?"

Peter snapped out a furious "Walter!", but Olivia was too startled not to tell the truth. "Yes."

Walter nodded. "As I suspected. Obviously, we were unable to examine any of our subjects into adolescence, but we always suspected there would be further...adaptations."

"Adaptations," Olivia echoed flatly.

"Of a physiological nature." Walter's hands twisted together. "With the proper stimulus, you may experience an almost-feline estrous cycle."

She turned on him. "You did not just tell me that I'm going to go _into heat._ "

"I believe Mr. Lane already has," Walter offered, unhelpfully. "Proximity to him will most likely trigger yours. But due to the nature of his empathic ability, he has been projecting his libido onto those in his vicinity."

"Walter, you can't be saying that you _programmed_ Olivia and this Nick Lane to-- to breed!" Peter protested angrily, but his voice sounded very far away.

Even seeing Nick's face in a photograph, Olivia could feel a thin thread of connection, growing stronger by the moment. Being in the same city clearly intensified the "bond." When she saw him in person....

Walter's alarming pronouncements aside, she still had a job to do. "Can we use this link to find him? If Nick is projecting his...experiences...to me, shouldn't that connection work in reverse?"

Walter nodded slowly, a complex wash of worry and guilt staining his face. "Yes, that follows. I can hypnotically stimulate a R.E.M. state to enhance your psychic connection to Nick Lane. Tuning your antenna, as it were."

"Olivia, you can't do this. If what Walter's saying is true, smartest thing would be for you to leave the city. The country, maybe." Peter's objection was entirely reasonable, logical given the circumstances. But something inside her knew she had to find Nick. And soon.

Peter watched, eyes narrowed and lips pressed tightly together, as Walter and Astrid prepared Olivia for the procedure. Falling into a hypnotic state was almost easy these days, after her experiences with the sensory deprivation tank. 

The moment she crossed the threshold into lucid dreaming, Nick was there.

Olivia saw him through the psychic connection, felt the heat building in his blood. He couldn't stay in his apartment, even knowing that he should. The imperative driving him made it impossible to stay still, leading him to wander the streets seeking...something. Some _one_. He hadn't found that person yet, only unsatisfactory substitutes, but when he did....

She paced along with him, eyes flickering over the city street signs until he spotted a crowd milling on the sidewalk underneath a club sign. The mood washed over him, heightened excitement and lust and vitality. Nick walked toward them without hesitation, drawn like a moth to flame.

Olivia's eyes snapped open. "Nick's heading into a club. I know where he is." She sat up, stripping the monitors with careless speed. 

"Olivia!" Peter called out after her, his voice laden with a clear warning, but everything in her was driving her forward, toward Nick. She grabbed the SUV's keys, not waiting for him or Astrid or Walter, and bolted out toward the parking lot.

Heedless of speed limits, Olivia blatantly abused the car's siren to clear the way through the busy streets. She pulled up in front of the club she'd seen in her vision, parking illegally, displaying her badge at the angry protests of the club-goers on the sidewalk. A valet waved his hand and she threw him the keys, already heading inside without bothering to wait for her ticket.

Another flash of her badge and she was past the door guard, scanning the crowded room for--

There.

Nick was looking around dreamily. Underneath the music Olivia could sense a pulse, a rising rhythm that would soon sweep everyone up in Nick's arousal. Already couples on the dance floor were grinding together, oblivious to their surroundings. From her vantage point Olivia could see that the club patrons and staff had already begun circling Nick, their flow patterns involuntarily shifting to bring them closer to him.

Olivia fell in step, allowing the crowd to sweep her along. Halfway across the room she saw Nick's head snap up, clearly sensing that something had changed. Olivia felt his attention, nearly a tangible sensation as he caught her eye.

She crossed the last few steps toward him and watched as the confused look on his face transformed into pure joy. "Olive. It's really you."

Olivia swallowed hard, trying to keep the intense emotions under some pretense of control. "I'm here, Nick."

"Yeah. And you're...." Nick leaned toward her, scenting her like an animal, and he shuddered. His eyelids slipped closed briefly and then he opened his eyes and stared at her. "You're the one. I've been looking for you!"

She could feel the cresting desire between them. The two of them were mirrors, the heat reflecting and intensifying with every moment. "I have you," Olivia said, but that didn't feel precise enough. It was more like-- " _I claim you._ "

Nick let out a long shuddering breath and leaned against her. Everyone else in the room suddenly relaxed, the lust in their eyes fading into confusion.

Olivia's own libido felt like it'd been turned up to eleven but she could maintain enough control to get her and Nick out of here, at least. Something in her had woken up, a kind of surety. She knew she could command a room's attention or stare anyone down. She was a born leader, confident and powerful. But right now she was going to take this man, her mate--

"Take." And "mate." Both words felt right, though Olivia wasn't entirely sure how yet.

They'd figure it out together.

And afterward....

Olivia felt her lips curl up in a feral smile. Everything was going to change.

**Author's Note:**

> The A/B/O bingo square converged with a line from wikiaddicted's "[How Brittle the Bones,](http://archiveofourown.org/works/474246)" which has been bouncing around in my head for awhile: 
> 
> "... the same day he goes on a rampage of accidental sexual arousal contagion on the MTA's red line. [Nick] seriously needs to get the fuck out of this place, away from these people before he finds himself the instigator of a metro-wide orgy courtesy of Massive Dynamic's biochemical department, because really: _What don't they do?_ " 
> 
> Also borrowed:  
> "You did not just tell me that I'm going to go _into heat._ " -- from Elfin's "Not the Skin Which Contains Me," because the inadvertent parallel made me giggle too much.
> 
> In conclusion: New!Alpha!Olivia just had an "all shall love me and despair" moment and this AU should damn well tremble.
> 
> (And no, I am not writing the Nick-gets-pregnant-because-they-didn't-know-that-was-possible sequel.)


End file.
